ChefSums: Recipe Costing & GP

Hunter's chicken with chips and coleslaw: how much it costs to make, per portion

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Chicken breast wrapped in streaky bacon, topped with BBQ sauce and grated cheddar, served with chips and coleslaw. Ten portions costed from JJ Foodservice prices dated 10 October 2026.

Illustration of hunter's chicken: a chicken breast wrapped in bacon, topped with BBQ sauce and melted cheese, with chips and salad
Illustration by The ChefSums team: a drawing of the dish, not a photo, and not the exact costing below.
Ingredients per portion£1.85
Batch of 10£18.48
Menu price · ChefSums' sample pub menu£15.95 inc VAT (£13.29 ex) · 86% GP
Lowest price · 68% GP£6.93 inc VAT (£5.78 ex)

The menu price is the one ChefSums uses for this dish on its sample pub menu, a realistic UK menu price. The lowest price is the one that just reaches 68% GP, the UK food GP benchmark (UKHospitality × Christie & Co, 2022: 65.9–69% food GP across every segment). It covers the ingredients at a normal margin, not staff, rent or energy, and most cafés, pubs and takeaways charge more for simple dishes. Check what places near you charge. GP is worked out on the ex-VAT price.

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Ingredients and cost, 10 portions

IngredientPack pricePack sizeUsedCost
Chicken breast fillets, raw (130-150 g)£47.9910000 g1400 g£6.72
Streaky bacon, rindless£12.492270 g400 g£2.20
BBQ sauce£6.492270 ml500 ml£1.43
Mature cheddar, grated£11.992000 g400 g£2.40
Frozen chips, 3/8-inch£13.999080 g2250 g£3.47
Vegetable oil (fryer top-up allowance)£26.9920000 ml300 ml£0.40
Coleslaw£5.992000 g600 g£1.80
Table salt£10.996000 g10 g£0.02
Ground black pepper£15.991000 g3 g£0.05
Batch total£18.48
Per portion (÷ 10)£1.85

Cost per line is pack price × (amount used ÷ pack size), the same sum the tool runs. Change one pack price and every line that uses it moves.

What it really costs: waste and staff time

Ingredients£1.85
Waste allowance, 5% (trim, ends, the odd one binned)£0.09
Staff time: 15 min hands-on for the batch of 10 at £12.71/hr + 25% on-cost£0.40
Food, waste and staff per portion£2.34

At the sample pub menu price (£13.29 ex VAT) that is 18% of the price, before rent, energy and everything else. Many UK sites aim to keep food plus staff (prime cost) at or under 60–65% of sales. The staff line counts hands-on prep only, not unattended cooking, and uses the April 2026 National Living Wage; put your own rate, minutes and waste in the calculator's real cost section or the prime cost calculator. Every dish side by side: the UK dish cost index.

Method

  1. Season the chicken breasts and wrap each in two rashers of streaky bacon.
  2. Roast at 200 °C for about 20 minutes, until the chicken reaches 75 °C in the centre.
  3. Spoon 50 ml of BBQ sauce over each breast, top with 40 g of cheddar and return to the oven until melted.
  4. Serve with chips and 60 g of coleslaw.

Costing notes

The chicken is £0.67 a portion at 140 g raw. Frozen IQF fillets can carry a glaze of ice; weigh a few after thawing and adjust the 1,400 g if yours lose noticeably more. The bacon, sauce and cheese together cost about £0.60 a portion, and they are what lets this dish sell for more than a plain chicken breast.

Where the prices came from

JJ Foodservice collection prices as shown on its public search pages on 10 October 2026 (delivery runs about £1-2 a case higher; one line JJ listed on delivery only is marked). JJ does not label VAT on most lines: raw food is zero-rated in the UK, while soft drinks, alcohol, confectionery and some ingredients carry standard-rate VAT. Your supplier's price is the one that matters: open the recipe and type it in.

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